USA > Wisconsin > Wisconsin, its story and biography, 1848-1913, Volume V > Part 12
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William Rowe was a native of the state of Pennsylvania, born in Luzerne county, December 29, 1850. His parents were Henry B. and Lucinda C. (Biesecler) Rowe. The father was born in Strougesburg, Pennsylvania, in 1826, and his death occurred in 1884. The mother, who was born in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, October 5, 1829, is still living in her eighty-fourth year, her home being in Eau Claire. The parents were married in Luzerne county, and of their four children, the three now living are as follows: William; Emma, wife of George McDermod; and Isabella, wife of William Hayes. The one deceased passed away when an infant. The father by trade was a carpenter and joiner, and also a building contractor. In 1859 he came west and located at Mondovie, in Buffalo county, Wisconsin, where he engaged in the contracting and building business, and is one of the pioneer farmers of that region, hewing a home out of the wilderness. When the war came on he enlisted in Company D of the Eighteenth Wiscon- sin Infantry, and took part in many skirmishes and battles of the war and was with Sherman on his march to the sea. He served out the full time of his enlistment and was given an honorable discharge at the close of the war in 1865. On his return to Wisconsin he once more resumed farming and also established and conducted a store at Mondovie, under the firm name of Darling and Rowe. Two years later he moved to Eau Claire, where he engaged in the grocery business under the firm name of Hume & Rowe. Subsequently he sold his interests in this firm to Mr. Hume and was engaged in the retail grocery business on his own
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account for a number of years. He finally retired and spent his last days in the peace and comfort such as his service rendered the country and his business activities entitled him to. He was affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republie and the Ancient Order of United Work- men, and in polities was a Republican.
Mr. William Rowe was eight years old when the family came to Wiseonsin and he accordingly was reared and received most of his education in this state. As a boy he attended the schools at Mondovie in Buffalo county, and began his practical career as a wage-earner in 1869 when he was given an opportunity to clerk in the general store of W. H. Smith at Eau Claire. This was the beginning of more than forty years active connection with business affairs in this city. In 1875 he embarked in the retail grocery business on his own account, and eon- tinued in that line until 1883. At that time he expanded his business to a wholesale house under the title of Eau Claire Grocery Company. He was chief executive of this company from 1892 to 1896, and sinee then has been a director and manager of its sales force.
Mr. Rowe represented the third ward in the city council for one term, and for a year and a half was a member of the school board. He resigned the latter place in 1900 owing to his election to the office of mayor in that year, and by re-election he served four consecutive terms as mayor. Fraternally he is affiliated with Eau Claire Lodge No. 112, A. F. & A. M., Eau Claire Chapter No. 36, R. A. M., and Eau Claire Commandery No. 8, K. T. His polities is Republican.
On September 27, 1876, Mr Rowe married Miss Mary A. Raey, who was a native of Canada. The four children born of their marriage are as follows : Clarenee H; William A., who is a graduate from the Univer- sity of Wisconsin in the electrical engineering department and is now praetising his profession; Wilfred L., who graduated a civil engineer from the University of Wisconsin with the class of 1907; and Gertrude, who died in infancy.
PETER J. SMITHI. When we turn to the pages of a life such as Peter J. Smith's, of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, we ean but feel that if a man handicapped as he has been ean make such a success of life, then some of us, far better equipped for the battle of life, might accomplish some- thing. It only goes to prove that in a man's own character are to be found the qualities that are the dominant factors in his success. Peter J. Smith came to this country, a foreigner, poor, knowing little or nothing of the language of the people, but determined that he, in this land of opportunity, would make a place for himself. He is now as- sistant postmaster of Eau Claire and is one of the best known men of the eity.
Born in Denmark, on the 22nd of August, 1867, Peter J. Smith is the son of Danish parents, and grew up in the country of his birth. His
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father, James P. Smith, spent all his life in his native country, following his trade as a tailor. He died a comparatively young man, at the age of thirty-four, in 1878. His wife, Kirsten Smith, was thus left with the care of their one son, Peter J.
The lad grew to manhood in Denmark, receiving his education in the public schools of the country, and when he came of age he came to America. This was in 1888, and he came directly to Wisconsin. He decided that if he were to succeed in this country, he had first to learn something of American methods of business. He therefore entered the Eau Claire Business College in 1889, and when he had completed the course there offered he was fairly well prepared for his career. He first became an employee of the Northwestern Lumber Company as a contractor. He was engaged in this way for twelve years and then became supreme secretary of the Scandinavian Workingmen's Asso- ciation, an organization in which he had always been deeply interested. In 1903 he received the appointment of bookkeeper to the secretary of state, Walter Huser, at Madison, Wisconsin, and he held this posi- tion for a year, resigning to return to his former duties as secretary of the Scandinavian Workingmen's Association.
Mr. Smith has always manifested a healthy interest in local affairs of a political nature, and has held numerous offices in the municipal government. He represented the First Ward in the City Council from 1898 to 1899, and again served in 1900, 1901 and 1902, resigning from the duties of his office in the latter year to assume the duties of his position in the office of the secretary of state, as mentioned previously. In 1907 he was appointed assistant postmaster of Eau Claire, under Earle S. Welch, and he has served in this office continuously since that time. In 1910 he was elected president of the Assistant Postmasters' Association, serving one year in the office. Mr. Smith is a Republican and has been a member of the Republican State Central Committee for the Seventh Congressional District for four years.
The interest that Mr. Smith has displayed in the welfare of the Scandinavian people of this country has taken much of his time, and he has long been active along lines of endeavor that can not fail to prove of benefit to his people. In 1908 he was elected to the office of president of the Scandinavian Workingmen's Association, in which he had previously served as supreme secretary, and he was twice re-elected to the office of president, his third term now being in progress. He is a member of a number of other societies and associations of a fraternal nature, and is popular and prominent with the Scandinavian people and with the people of his adopted city as well, of whatever nationality.
On the 16th of February, 1888, Mr. Smith was married to Miss Mary Larson, the marriage taking place in Denmark, where Mrs. Smith was born. Five children, four of whom are living, were born of this union. The eldest son, James Peter, lost his life in a railroad accident, when
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he was sixteen years of age. The other children are Thomas, Castie Mary, Martin A. and Adolph M.
Mr. Smith's widowed mother is still living, and in 1900 he sent to the old home for her to come to America, and she now makes her home with her son.
ARTHUR RICHARD BARRY was born in Waupaca, Waupaca county, Wisconsin, on March 17, 1877, and is the son of Michael and Jeannette (Sumner) Barry. The father was born in Queenstown, Ireland, and the mother in Homer, Michigan, whence she came to Wisconsin in her girlhood with her parents. The father came from his home in Erin to Wisconsin in 1867 and settled in Waupaca county, and it was there he met and married his wife. Later he moved to Phillips, Wisconsin, where he was one of the first and foremost settlers of that community, and where he has been engaged in the practice of law for the past thirty-four years, and is still so occupied. The mother passed away at the family home there on April 13, 1910.
Michael Barry has been a man of more than ordinary importance and position and has held practically every local office of any importanee in the town of Phillips, in addition to which he has been county treas- urer, district attorney, and has been in other ways active in the political affairs of his seetion of the country. To Michael and Jeannette Barry five children were born, all of whom are living with the exception of one sister, Jessie Margaret, who died on November 14, 1909. As to the others, Arthur Richard, the subject, and his sister. Mary J. Barry, make their home in Milwaukee; John S. is a lawyer at Phillips, Wis- consin, associated with his father under the firm name of Barry & Barry, and Gertrude resides at the family home in Phillips, Wisconsin. Of this family Arthur Richard, Barry alone was born in Waupaca, all the others having been born at Phillips.
Arthur Richard Barry was educated in the public schools of Phil- lips, Wisconsin, and was graduated from the high school in the class of 1893. He was also graduated from the Wisconsin Aeademy, a pre- paratory school at Madison, and later attended the University of Wis- consin at that point. He spent two years in that institution. then entered the law department of the University of Minnesota and was ยท graduated from that school in the class of 1900 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. In 1900 Mr. Barry commenced practice and that same year was elected distriet attorney of Price county, Wisconsin, serving two terms in that offiee. He practiced law in association with his father until 1907, under the firm name of Barry & Barry, and from there he went with Thomas H. Gill, general attorney for the Wiscon- sin Central Railroad, with offices in Chicago, Illinois. He was in the Chicago offiee for one year, when they established an office in the Germania Building in Milwaukee in 1908, with the firm name of Gill,
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Barry & Mahoney, and this partnership endured until June, 1912, when Mr. Mahoney withdrew from the firm, which is now known as Gill & Barry.
Mr. Barry is a consistent Republican and he is a member of the City, State and American Bar Associations. Fraternally, he is a mem- ber of the Masonic order and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Lodge No. 46 of Milwaukee.
On May 2, 1901, Mr. Barry was married to Miss May Monroe, daughter of Sidney H. Monroe of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Mr. Monroe is an old soldier and a farmer of considerable prominence in Fond du Lac, of which he is a pioneer. He married Margaret Hendry, who died when Mrs. Barry was a small child. Mrs. Barry was born, reared and educated in Fond du Lac, and after finishing the high school course in her native city attended Ripon College. Mr. and Mrs. Barry have three living children : Michael Richard, Margaret Jeannette, and Sidney Ferris. Their second born child, Monroe Barry, died when he was one year old. All four were born in Phillips, Wisconsin, where the family lived for some years after the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Barry.
OTTO O. WIEGAND. During thirty years of residence in Shawano county, Mr. Wiegand has had a very busy career, has been identified with various useful activities in the city, and in recent years his time and services have been required in the public interests. He was a member of the Legislature, session of 1891 and 1892. He is now the efficient county clerk of Shawano county, in his second term, having been elected on the Republican ticket, and taking office in January, 1911. He was reelected in November, 1912. Prior to that he acted as deputy county clerk nine months during 1910, and before that served as supervisor of assessments of Shawano county. He was first appointed to that office by the tax commission in August, 1905, and was formally elected by the county board of supervisors in 1907. Mr. Wiegand has had his home in the city of Shawano since 1888, and in the county since 1884.
His native place was Manitowoc, Wisconsin, where he was born on a farm July 9, 1860, a son of Carl and Fredericka (Hamann) Wiegand, both natives of Germany. The father, a substantial farmer who died in 1871, came to America during the decades of the forties and located in Wisconsin in 1848, the year in which the territory became a state. His home was in Manitowoc county. The mother preceded her hus- band to Manitowoc county by a few months. She had married in Germany Mr. Mortz Mavis, who died soon after they settled in Wis- consin, and she then married Mr. Wiegand. Her death occurred in 1895. Otto O. Wiegand spent his boyhood on the home farm in Manitowoc county, getting his education in the country schools, and also attending the Oshkosh Normal. His educational equipment fitted
O.O. Wiegand
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him for work as a teacher, and he was thus engaged for three years in Manitowoc county and one year in Shawano county. During his resi- dence in Manitowoc county, he acquired an interest in a cheese factory and in 1884 moved to Shawano county to establish a cheese factory in the town of Washington. That venture did not prove a success, and was abandoned after two seasons. For two seasons following Mr. Wiegand conducted a sawmill and taught school one winter. Mov- ing into the city of Shawano he bought an interest in the Shawano County Advocate, one of the well known local newspapers, and was identified with its management and editorial control for ten years. Selling out he went into the telephone business, establishing an inde- pendent line in Shawano county. He was manager of the Independ- ent Company for two years, at the end of which time he sold out and resumed the management of the Advocate for Mr. M. J. Wallrich. A year later he went into the canning business, and was connected with that work three years until his appointment as supervisor of assess- ments diverted him from private business to public affairs.
Mr. Wiegand has been twice married. In 1886 he married Miss Anna Schultz of the town of Two Rivers in Manitowoc county. She died in 1896 leaving two children, Edna and Oscar. In 1905 Mr. Wiegand was united in marriage with Alberta Rueckert, of the town of Washington, Shawano county. Their four children are: Ashley, Grace, Alberta and Pearl. Fraternally Mr. Wiegand is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias.
FRANK WASHBURN STARBUCK. The Racine Journal-News (known as the Journal until January 1, 1912, at which time it took over the Racine News) has been for forty years a paper of broad influence and representing the best enterprise in modern newspaper facilities. Its successful career throughout this period has been largely associated with the name of Starbuck. Mr. Frank W. Starbuck, who has taken a part in its management and conduct for forty years, and is presi- dent and editor of the Journal Printing Company, has directed the best interests of this valuable newspaper ever since.
The Journal has been first of all a medium for the transmission of news and the diffusion of publicity. At the same time it has been consistently Republican in politics, though the editors have always reserved the right to discuss public news of interest, whether in na- tional, state or municipal affairs, from an impartial standpoint. In 1874, at which date Mr. Starbuck first formed connection with the Journal, the paper was a weekly, and about the same time steam power was installed for the operation of the machinery of the plant, and from that day to this, the Journal has always kept pace with the steady gowth and development of the Twin City. The first appearance of the daily issue of the Journal was on January 3, 1881,
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when a modest four-page six-column paper offered its news to the public. Its headquarters were then over the Manufacturers National Bank. The success of the daily was never in doubt, and it soon be- came necessary to remove the printing establishment and the home of the Journal to the Old Belle City Hall; whence again in 1891 the plant was removed to 328 Main Street, which had been purchased by the company and remodeled into a completely modern newspaper printing plant. That is still the home of the Journal.
In 1894 the daily was increased in size to an eight-page issue, and subsequent improvements in the equipment included a perfecting press, linotype machines and other equipment. At the same time the editorial department was undergoing a continuous expansion, includ- ing a leased wire service and Associated Press reports. With these specific items of advance, and with a constant improvement in the spirit and enterprise of the paper, the Journal has for some years en- joyed the distinction of being one of the best edited and printed papers in Wisconsin. Machinery of the most modern type has been installed, including five Mergenthaler typesetting machines and Hoe
Web press so that an issue equal to that of many metropolitan dailies can now be run off within a few hours. A number of the employees in the mechanical department of the Journal office have served from fifteen to twenty years, this fact of itself being a fine instance of the loyalty which the managers of the paper have inspired among their employes.
The Journal Printing Company was incorporated in 1886; Mr. Frank W. Starbuck was chosen President of the company; the Vice President is William Horlick; the Secretary and Treasurer is Frank R. Starbuck. These officers were also directors. Mr. Griswold, also a director, has been continuously identified with the Journal since December, 1880. Mr. E. A. Tostevin, now of Mandan, N. D., officiated as treasurer until 1909, having entered the service of this enterprise in 1887. Mr. Frank R. Starbuck succeeded him as treasurer, having been secretary of the company for ten years previously.
Frank Washburn Starbuck, the editor of the Journal and presi- dent of the company just named, was born in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, November 8, 1845. The newspaper business is almost hereditary in this family, for his father, Calvin W. Starbuck, was one of the prominent newspaper men of Cincinnati, and at one time owner of the Cincinnati Times, a paper which had a prominent part as a molder of public opinion during the period of the Civil war.
Frank W. Starbuck came to Racine in 1873. The immediate pur- pose of his coming to this city, being to recuperate his health. While here he became connected with the Journal, which at that time was edited and owned by Colonel W. L. Utley and his son Hamilton. On the 1st of January, 1874, Mr. Starbuck bought half an interest in the
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paper from Colonel Utley. Then a year later he bought the remain- ing interest from his son, Hamilton. The latter still remained with the Journal for some time, but on the discovery of gold in the Black Hills of the Dakotas, with a number of associates, he left for those fields. On his departure, Mr. Starbuck, who had previously been associated largely with the business management of the paper, took up the editorial duties, and has wielded the editorial pen ever since, with only brief interruptions.
In 1875 Mr. Starbuck married Miss Mattie Raymond, who passed away March 16, 1912. Mrs. Starbuck was a native of Racine, and the daughter of the late Seneca Raymond. The four living children of Mr. and Mrs. Starbuck are Helen, Marguerite, Genevieve and Frank. The oldest daughter, however, Helen, was the child of Mr. Starbuck by his former marriage to Miss Carrie Golden, of Cincinnati.
L. F. SHOEMAKER. On January 1, 1897, L. F. Shoemaker was elected to the office of county clerk of Waupaca county, Wisconsin, and he has retained that office through every consecutive election since that time, a fact which is a more effective commentary upon the character of his service than any wordy statement might be, however closely it adhered to fact. Other public service, too, has marked his career in this, the county of his birth, and with it all, he has carried on a farming enterprise that is especially creditable. Mr. Shoemaker was born in Waupaca county, Wisconsin, on March 27, 1856, his father's farm in the town of Dayton being his birthplace, and he is a son of Frederick and Jane (Lewis) Shoemaker. Born in 1826, Frederick Shoemaker is a native of Alsace, then under French rule, and his wife is a native of Wausau, New York. Frederick Shoemaker was twenty years old when he came to America, and he first located in New York state, there working on a farm, where he met and married his wife. After marriage they came to Waupaca county, Wisconsin, and bought a farm in the town of Dayton, where they passed the remaining days of their lives. The father died there in 1896 at the age of seventy years, his widow surviving him until five years later, death claiming her when she was in the seventy-fifth year of her life. They were pioneers of their section of the county, among the very first to establish homes in Dayton, and they passed all their days on their farm there. They reared four children : Lewis Frederick, of this review; Lucy, who married A. R. Potts; Truman, and Corinne.
Lewis Frederick Shoemaker grew to manhood on the Dayton farm of his parents, and he received his education in the district schools. He was something of a scholar, and when he was seventeen years old began teaching, a work in which he continued successfully until he was about thirty-five years of age. He confined that part of his activities. however, to the winter seasons, for he devoted his summers to farming, and when he was at the age mentioned above, he took over a part of the
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old Shoemaker farm of his parents and thereafter devoted all his time to farm life. Six years later, in 1897, he was elected to the office of county clerk of Waupaca county, and is still the incumbent of that office, as has been stated in an opening paragraph. Since that time he has retained a residence in this city, renting the farm, instead of giving his direct attention to its operation.
Mr. Shoemaker has had a part in many of the business enterprises of this place, and was one of the organizers of the Rural Telephone Company, of which he is now secretary. He is also a stockholder in the Old National Bank of Waupaca. In addition to his service as county clerk, he has given other valued service among which might be men- tioned his five years' incumbency of the office of town clerk, and chair- man of the town board for three years. He has been a member of the Waupaca school board for several years, serving one term as president of the board some years ago, and being again elected to that position in May, 1913. His service on the board has been most praiseworthy, and he has aided not a little in the matter of raising the standard of edu- cation in the city schools.
In 1890 Mr. Shoemaker was married to Ella E. Poland, the marriage occurring on March 19th of that year. She is a daughter of Samuel Poland, deceased, a pioneer of Dayton. Mr. and Mrs. Shoemaker have two children : Laura M. and Frederick W. Shoemaker.
Few men in this city have a greater list of friends in the county than has Mr. Shoemaker. A man of intense public spirit he has been influential in an especially beneficial way in the city, and with his family he enjoys a pleasing position in the community that represents their home and the center of their activities.
LEVI H. PELTON, M. D. There are few active Wisconsin physicians who combine the experiences of the pioneer doctor with the modern rep- resentatives of the profession in a more interesting manner than Dr. Pelton, who for forty years has been identified with medical practice in Wisconsin, and since 1885, has held a high place both as a physician and a citizen in Waupaca. Besides his individual career, Dr. Pelton is a distinctive Wisconsin man, having been born in this state, and by family ties is related to some of the oldest pioneer settlers.
Levi H. Pelton was born in Sheboygan county, town of Linden, in a log house on July 10, 1848, that year being notable as the date at which Wisconsin territory became a state of the union. His parents were Russel and Eliza (Thompson) Pelton, Wisconsin pioneers. Russel Pelton was born in Trumbull county, in the Western Reserve of Ohio. Eliza, his wife, was born in Genesee county, New York. They grew up in separate localities, and their paths did not unite until they reached Wisconsin. Russel Pelton came to Wisconsin alone, while his wife came with her mother and oldest brother by way of the great lakes to Mil-
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